Just heard on the local news in Maine this morning advising of a derailment south of Haverhill. Amtrak riders from Portland will need to transfer to busses to continue to Boston. Any info on this? Injuries?

Rich Murphy claims in the video below that the derail happened in an interlocking. But looking at the pictures and the track chart for that area, I think the derail happened in Lawrence, just north of the South Union Street overpass. I'm pinning it to the location where the fourth yard lead switches off to become four parallel tracks leading into the Lawrence Yard, near the end of Lasalle Ave. Which puts it just south of the Lawrence Yard. But I'm not intimately familiar with this area, so I'm just guessing. If I'm correct, that's not near the CPF-AS interlocking on the other side of the yard, and it is 1 mile north of CPF-FY. So it appears to me that the track defect was on the single track and not at a switch.

The video is a decent explanation to the scheduling impacts, even if it wasn't too detailed. Nice of them to try.

Track failure is a big deal. Irrelevant that it was an empty train. Obviously triggered by temperature change; was listening to my deck making loud CRACK! noises last night. How fast do passenger trains (such as downeaster?) travel in that area?

BandA wrote:Track failure is a big deal. Irrelevant that it was an empty train. Obviously triggered by temperature change; was listening to my deck making loud CRACK! noises last night. How fast do passenger trains (such as downeaster?) travel in that area?

Not very because it's inside of the Pan Am yard on the Lawrence station approach. Not sure what exact speed limit is, but can't be much more than 35 MPH on approach to the curve. And I'm sure a pre-5:00am deadhead is going to be traveling considerably slower than a passenger train because schedule-keeping isn't a concern.

High probability this was a frost heave. The ground freeze that normally happens gradually over the course of a couple weeks in December just got compressed to 48 hours in January. Absolutely the sort of thing that can shift the trackbed a couple inches. In fact, I'd be surprised if this were the only infrastructure failure in this part of the state. Roads should be cracking and water mains bursting all over the place right about now with how unprecedentedly fast this ground freeze happened.

This is why the standard issue pre-dawn deadheads and hi-trail truck inspections are out there always preceding the first revenue train of the day. If something went bump in the night, somebody's got to be the first to find out. Might as well be an empty deadhead with 2 Keolis staffers onboard rather than a train full of early-bird commuters stranded with the power cut on their coach when it's dark and 6 degrees out.

If Mr. Murphy of Keolis says it happened at an interlocking, then it has to be at CPF_FY [Frye] just south of the old Shawsheen Station. The photo above appears to be that part of the train--with its engine--that was moved out of the derailment area east to the JK switch, which is where the Lawrence Yard lead track takes off from the former Lawrence Runner, soon to be--if not already--designated as a main track. St.Patrick's church gave the location away immediately. Someone with an ETT can verify that piece.

With four sets 'trapped' at the Ballard layover, why couldn't that equipment be routed through the Lawrence Yard and sent around the derailed train on those yard leads? I understand that couldn't have been done with passengers aboard, and it might have even required a PAR pilot, but wouldn't that have been better than leaving them stranded all day?

BostonUrbEx wrote:The switch at Frye no longer exists as of the passing of 3701 and subsequent derailment.

Really? I ask, because someone reported that the crossovers at I-495 aren't in service yet, so the only way into Lawrence Yard would be to run up to North Andover, clear Frost, and back in to the yard on Track 17 . Am I missing something here?

BandA wrote:Track failure is a big deal. Irrelevant that it was an empty train. Obviously triggered by temperature change; was listening to my deck making loud CRACK! noises last night. How fast do passenger trains (such as downeaster?) travel in that area?

Not very because it's inside of the Pan Am yard on the Lawrence station approach. Not sure what exact speed limit is, but can't be much more than 35 MPH on approach to the curve. And I'm sure a pre-5:00am deadhead is going to be traveling considerably slower than a passenger train because schedule-keeping isn't a concern.

Deadhead moves are ran at track speed, and still are governed by an approximate schedule that is published per Bulletin Order. Looking at the Globe's pictures showing where the train derailed, track speed is 60 and that overhead walkway in advance of the locomotive is the normal braking point for the 30 mph through CPF-AS. Obviously we don't know what signal the train was running on so it may have not be doing MAS.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:...This is why the standard issue pre-dawn deadheads and hi-trail truck inspections are out there always preceding the first revenue train of the day. If something went bump in the night, somebody's got to be the first to find out. Might as well be an empty deadhead with 2 Keolis staffers onboard rather than a train full of early-bird commuters stranded with the power cut on their coach when it's dark and 6 degrees out.

Every track of every line is checked with hirail or before service every morning? That's amazing.

There most certainly is not a track patrol every morning before service. I'm not sure there's even a patrol every day, but there's definitely at least two a week. If there's a storm potentially threatening high water or downed trees, there's usually a pre-revenue patrol. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea for the first bitter cold day, either.